BITS Pilani announced that Ashoke Sarkar will be the Director of Pilani campus. He took charge from G Raghurama who served 27 years at BITS Pilani in various capacities. Raghurama recently completed his remarkable 5-year term as Director of Pilani campus and will be moving to BITS Pilani's KK Birla Goa campus to pursue research and teaching.
“The last 27 years in BITS Pilani has given me many moments to cherish, as a teacher and as an administrator. I have a deep satisfaction having obtained the love, affection and support from BITS Pilani faculty and staff," said Raghurama in a press statement. "Whatever we could do together was because of mutual confidence and belief in a greater cause."
Sarkar, who assumed his new position on 16th april this year, joined BITS in 1999 and has held positions including Dean, Instruction Division; and Dean, Academic Registration and Counseling at the institute.
He has authored two books and a number of research papers in journals of repute. Sarkar has also been a consultant to World Bank, PWD (Rajasthan government), UGC, and NHAI. He graduated with a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1992 from IIT Kharagpur and also taught at IIT Kharagpur and University of Durban. The new director was also a Research Scientist with CSIR in South Africa.